If you shoot with the Z 24mm f/1.8 S at its widest aperture you’re likely to notice some vignetting, even with the in-camera Vignette control set to ‘Normal’, but it’s not especially problematic – though I speak as someone who often adds a touch of vignetting post-capture. Close down to f/2.0 and the corners brighten noticeably. By f/2.8 the corner shading is negligible, but if you shoot the same scene at f/4 and flick between the two images you may notice that the corners are very slightly darker in the f/2.8 version.
Where the Nikon Z 24mm f/1.8 S really impresses is with the level of detail visible when it’s wide-open. There is some slight fall-off towards the corners but it’s controlled well. Again, closing to f/2 improves the situation and by f/4 the corner sharpness is very good indeed.
Nikon has limited the lens minimum aperture to a modest f/16 and although there’s a hint of the impact of diffraction, the results are very good.
Without the in-camera corrections, there’s just noticeable curvilinear distortion if you photograph a subject with straight lines – such as a building – but turn the corrections on and the lines become straight. The corrections are applied to raw and Jpeg files and for most photographers, the default setting would be to have them on.
Chromatic aberration isn’t a problem and even if you angle the lens so that sunlight skids across its front element, it does a good job of keeping flare under control.
Further good news is that the lens’s autofocus system is nearly silent, which adds to its attraction for video. However, if you’re shooting in a very quiet location, you may feed to move the microphone away from the camera a litte.